Offerle drives Lancers through South Gray

Spearville senior Taylor Offerle had a major scare a couple of weeks ago when she injured her left knee in a game at Hodgeman County.

Luckily the injury wasn't serious and she only had to miss one game; so she was excited that she would be available for the Southern Plains-Iroquois Activities Association tournament at United Wireless Arena.

Offerle scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the first half and the Lady Lancers used a stifling defense to dominate the South Gray Rebels 58-36 victory in girls quarterfinal action of the league tournament at United Wireless Arena.

"I felt like I was getting back in the groove of things," Offerle said. "(The injury) scared me and I was a little nervous, but I knew I had to step it up for the team."

Offerle scored nine points in the first quarter and five more in the next stanza as she had almost as many points as the Lady Rebels. The Lady Lancers (8-3) forced 15 South Gray turnovers that Spearville was able to turn into points on the other end.

Spearville led 18-7 after the opening quarter and 32-16 by halftime. Dusty Watkins, South Gray's leading scorer, had 14 points in the game; but many of her points were in the second half.

"We just tried to do as much of help defense as possible," Offerle said. "We knew (Watkins) would be an inside threat. We just made sure we kept an eye on her."

The Lady Lancers increased their lead to 22 over South Gray (5-6) by the end of the third quarter and coasted in the fourth quarter to seal the win.